Las Vegas city fathers need to stop frowning on Electronic Daisy Carnival and embrace it. EDC saved their bacon in May, stopping a prolonged slide in Vegas visitation, which bottomed out and 
made the slightest of upward bounces. While occupied room nights were up a mere 0.5%, room rates on the Strip rose 7% and revenue per room ($130) was also up 7%. Room rates averaged $144/night. Thus Sin City was able to ride out a month when all-important convention traffic was down 5%. Gaming revenue on the Strip was also up a disproportionate 6%, to $581.5 million. Statewide, the increase was 5%, with the final tally safely above the $1 billion mark.
So what went right (besides EDC)? One word: Continue reading
Part of Jennifer’s and my soul was unawakened until we adopted Spike last Nov. 25. He was discovered through an online ad in the Augusta Chronicle. Jenny fell in love with his face and when I read “He is sad at the shelter,” my heart just broke. Spike made a seamless transition into our three-cat household and enjoyed his new role as alpha male of the group. (He also gave 
long tried to paint as a failure, has just come off its 
specifically because he is a [Donald] Trump crony. It is possible they will ratchet up police surveillance of his Macao properties in order to spread fear among high rollers and even middle-class gamblers that they are being checked in on by the authorities. Or they will launch an audit of their books. Either way, a move could be viewed as having plausible deniability that the government cloaks as a crackdown on corruption or tax evasion, as they did against Lotte in China’s battle with South Korea.” — China Market Research Managing Director Shaun Rein on 
in Atlantic City, the interest in investing capital in that town is going to diminish significantly. However, if we are successful, then I think the future is very bright.” Allen and Ocean Resort owner Bruce Deifik are on the eve of reopening two properties. Allen has reinvented Trump Taj Mahal as Hard Rock Atlantic City and 
machines
Based on the Las Vegas Review-Journal‘s 
“No operator has a clear sense of this process … Another comment we heard was that foreign players/interest will still be meaningful since it may be easier to control foreigners than the local guys.” — JP Morgan analyst Joseph Greff, 
City, Deifik has been a model citizen. “I’m either the world’s biggest moron or I’m reasonably intelligent,” Deifik told Bloomberg Businessweek. “I’m not working with funds that have unlimited deep pockets. This is our family. We take this very, very seriously.” If Revel does a third swan dive, Deifik’s liquidity could be wiped out, as could his real estate holdings, given the investment’s heavily collateralized nature. As Fitch Ratings analyst Alex Bumazhny says of Deifik’s Ocean Resort, “It’s going to be swimming up against the current when it opens.”
buttons and a succession clause, should any MGM Strip property be sold (a minor concession on management’s part, in our opinion). “Money is important, but it’s not only about that,” said housekeeper Francis Garcia, implying that the Culinary came up short on its 4% pay-increase demand. What she likes about the new arrangement is that it contains unspecified protections for Temporary Protected Status and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals immigrants, two groups currently in the Trump administration’s cross-hairs.
between the first and second floors, was isolated. Damage was mostly confined to the first-floor ceiling — and to Mandalay Bay’s reputation, which has taken a PR beating in the past year. Members of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, meeting at Mandalay Bay, may have gotten their feet wet but their convention is 
plan to make if the central government gives them a much-hoped-for exception. Just as players wager for trinkets in Japan‘s pachinko and pachislo parlors, Chinese vacationers would theoretically gamble not for money but for points that could be redeemed on rooms, dining and other resort amenities. (Has somebody been reading the Total Rewards playbook?) According to the South China Morning Post, “it would mark another big shift in the country’s approach to gaming after officials unveiled landmark measures to promote horse racing and sports lotteries in Hainan two months ago.”
while away from his family home in Las Vegas. This news hits close to home because Felix was a columnist for Casino Executive Magazine during the time I was its managing editor. His advice to fellow executives was always direct, candid, elegantly written and seasoned with humor. The latter stemmed from Felix’s lack of pretension about himself: His Casino Executive head shot featured him wearing a necktie adorned with a pattern of flyswatters. When not writing or being one of Vegas’ leading casino executives, he could found coaching a Little League team.
quote that “We’re really a Chinese company.” Las Vegas Sands is not far behind, at 65%, making them the most- and third-most exposed U.S. companies of $3 billion. (Qualcomm occupies the unenviable niche in between.) MGM Resorts International doesn’t even come close. That will be good news for CEO Jim Murren when a new wave of Chinese tariffs hits on July 6. On the other hand, an ornery Chinese government may not feel like postponing concession renewal until 2022, as MGM Grand Paradise CEO Grant Bowie has been trying to do, negotiating through Sinophile media outlets.
Penn got itself quite a bargain. It’s also a vote of confidence in the Shreveport/Bossier City market when you consider that Penn will own Boomtown Bossier when its acquisition of Pinnacle Entertainment closes. Margaritaville has grossed $157 million year to date, an 8% increase from early 2017. It’s a curious hybrid of a deal, as the physical assets will be owned by Vici Properties, the REIT of Penn’s archrival Caesars Entertainment, the market leader in the greater Shreveport area. Vici paid $261 million for the riverboat and casino, which it will lease at $23 million a year.